RWL016 How to Secure Remote Work by Aligning with CEO Priorities

Benefits of Remote Work Opportunities

Speaker 1

0:00

Hello, it's Alex from the Remote Work Life podcast. I hope you're well. How are you doing, wherever you may be in the world? The Remote Work Life podcast is all about me talking to you about the benefits of remote work and sharing interviews that I've done with people who know it best and really wanting me, wanting to help you to know what to expect and how to connect with your next opportunity in the world of remote work. And today I want to talk about something that I believe will really help you to do that, really help you to connect with your next opportunity, whether that be you prospecting for new leads or whether that be you wanting to actually become an employee within an existing remote business. And the reason I say that is because I have a group on Facebook and a lot of the conversations, as you can probably imagine, are around people wanting to to work remotely. But there are a number of people in there who post and, in fact, not just my group, but a number of people in there who post and, in fact, not just my group, but a number of groups on Facebook where people post their requests in terms of wanting to start remote work, but they lead with the fact that they want to work remotely and in fact, I commented on one of the posts saying this is probably not the way. Well, this is certainly not the way you should approach looking for remote work, and I got a bit of a bit of a sort of um, a laugh emoji. I don't know if they were just uh, it was just tongue-in-cheek or they were being serious, I don't know, or they just thought that what I was saying was completely ridiculous, who knows. But um, yeah, I mean, I've noticed that a lot of people approach looking for a remote opportunity from the point of view of their own needs, their own wants, and that could really alienate you from the people who are hiring remote people. So I think by me sharing with you some of the reasons why these CEOs, some of these great CEOs, have started remote businesses, I think by me sharing with you that information and you understanding them a lot more, I think you can then formulate a strategy to connect with those people and hopefully increase your chances of getting that remote opportunity that you want.

Speaker 1

2:21

But before I go into that, I just want to ask you a question and I want you to comment below, because I don't know if you've noticed, but this is a very new podcast. This is just, I think, my 10th episode, 10th or 11th episode. So I'm quite new to the world of podcasting and you've probably noticed it's quite I don't know how to explain it quite bare, in the sense that I don't have an intro, I don't have any music introducing me, I don't have any real slogan as such. I don't. It's just very bare, and I want to know do you prefer that? I mean, is that the kind of thing you like? Do you want me to just to get straight into the episode? Do you want me to introduce? How do you want me to sort of um, build this podcast. Do you want me to introduce? How do you want me to sort of build this podcast? Do you want me to continue with the podcast? That's another thing. Please comment below. And also, if you like the information that I'm sharing with you, please remember to leave me a rating, and please do. Well, yeah, leave me a five-star rating. That would be really nice. And leave me a comment as well, please do. It's. It's nice to know that there are people out there listening, but not only that people who are hopefully benefiting from some of the things that I am talking about.

Speaker 1

3:33

So on to my list of I think it's seven things that I, you know some of the reasons why some of the best remote CEOs start their businesses, and this is with a view to you, you know, using this information to connect with them and with others, because I think a lot of other CEOs who have remote businesses have similar sort of train of thought, because I've interviewed about, I think about 10 or 11. Recently I did some informational interviews as part of the remote work life summit and this information I'm about to give you is information that a lot of them said over again. So the first thing on my list is they really want to. When they start their business, they want to solve a problem. They want to solve a problem, a long-standing problem, a problem that's probably perhaps not going to go anyway, go away anytime soon, a problem that is really affecting the lives of people, and they want to provide some sort of solution to that problem. So if you think about that from your perspective, then if you can then find a way of understanding how you can fit into that whole, fit into the picture really, and show them and demonstrate to them how you can help them, to help their clients or help the people that they help to solve those problems. If you can add value in in what they do, then you're on to a winner, because, from all of the CEOs that I've interviewed over the years, that is their main reason for wanting to set up their business and they want to solve a problem whilst earning a living a lot of them, obviously, as well. So if you can find a way of fitting in to solve their problem, then you will be, you know, onto a winner there. So that's reason number one. Reason number two is well, and these are not in any particular order, this is just a list that I've made and this happens to be number two on my list.

Speaker 1

5:38

So they don't necessarily want to be tied to a specific location to solve that problem, and let me explain briefly one reason why that may be the case. So there's certain areas of the world. So, for example, if you take silicon valley, where a lot of talent will gravitate to those areas, they'll, you know, a lot of businesses as well will gravitate towards those areas and it will attract the talent, some of the best talent out there. And it's not a cheap place to set up, is it really? It's quite expensive. I hear a lot of people complaining about the cost of living there. As nice as it may be, and well, some people don't like it there, actually. But if you take that as an example, if you're tied to that specific location, then you know you're tied to things like the rates in that area, tied to things like hiring people from that particular area who can afford to live there, you know. So they don't necessarily want to be tied to a specific location. They want to be able to, um, be flexible in is as to where they locate themselves. And this is, you know, when it comes to being location independent, they're also thinking as well about their own lifestyle, I think as well, because to be location independent does help you to mold a kind of lifestyle that you want. So, yeah, I think, although solving a problem is, you know, solving a client's problem, is one of the reasons why they start their business. Not having to be tied to a location is certainly another aspect of their thought process when they're setting up and when they're growing. So that's another reason that I found.

Speaker 1

7:26

So another reason on my list number three on my list is, and it's kind of connected to not being tied to a specific location, and that is, they want a diverse and rich workforce and candidate pool to be able to hire from, because it's not necessarily the case that all the best talent is going to be in silicon valley or in, I don't know, in the city of of London. There are going to be talented people who perhaps either for whatever reason, don't want to move to those areas. You know. They may be in India, they may be in somewhere in I don't know in Africa, they may be in Europe or Asia or wherever it may be. And Having a remote business enables the CEOs to sort of like fish in a sort of real diverse and rich pool of talent that they may not have been able to access had they located in a bricks and mortar business in one part of the world. So that is another reason that they want to set up as a remote business.

Speaker 1

8:37

So let's move on to reason number four on my list, which is they want to connect with people. They want to make friends with people from different backgrounds as well. So what I found is the remote CEOs and the people that work within the remote businesses they're very keen on connecting and relationships and communication and making friends, and that's really important aspect of remote work, because, if you think about it, working remotely, you have to have a really tight knit and a really sort of culturally aligned team. And they're very, they're very keen on having people that they can really get on with, because that in that way and I think you know, co-located businesses could learn a lot from this Having people that you can get on with and having a team that's really sort of going in the same direction from a cultural standpoint, from the point of view of the same direction, from a cultural standpoint, from the point of view of the mission and the problems that they solve, having that all in your team and your setup is a recipe for real camaraderie, it's a recipe for productivity, it's a recipe for success, in my opinion. So you know, they want to make friends, they want to connect with people from different backgrounds.

Benefits of Remote Work Success

Speaker 1

9:57

So let's go on to my next reason, or at least a reason that I believe the best CEOs start working remotely and set up remote businesses. The next reason on my list is they want a team that can take responsibility and be empowered to do their best work, and I've put the word here trust. Trust is something that came up in a number of interviews that I did with the remote CEOs that I interviewed as part of the Remote Work Life Summit. Trust is a massive word, but they want to give you the responsibility to do your best work. They want to leave you to do your best work and not have to look over your shoulder. Because they believe and I I agree with this because I've worked remotely myself and I've experienced this myself they believe that you can do your best work working. You know working autonomously, being responsible for your own projects, being responsible for your own team. You know being responsible for putting forward ideas, being part of the culture.

Speaker 1

11:02

They want people who are proactive and you know part of that whole situation where you're taking responsibility, you're empowered. They want to empower you. They want to give you the, the tools to do your best work and they're not, it's not just spin. You know how sometimes you go to a job and they, they, they feed you with this spin that you know. We want to do this for you, want to do that for you, want, we want to make sure that you do your best work.

Speaker 1

11:29

And, with the remote ceos and the remote people I've interviewed, they are really engaged with doing their best work and they're really, you know, they take a vested interest in doing their best and showing up every day, being part of the culture, being part of the team, being part of the business and really really coming to do their best. And you know, and I think having that trust, you know, having that trust instilled, if you've got that trust to do your work, then I really believe you feel, you feel good about yourself, you feel a lot more confident. So I can really, I can really get on board with that. So another reason, then, that I have on my list is that they want to help you to thrive in your career, and that's that's linked to something that you know the previous point I just made but to further that point, what that, what you find with working remotely, is that it gives you time to do things that you want to do. It gives you the ability to um, to, to find more balance in your work and in your life, and it gives you the ability to perhaps well, not perhaps it gives you the ability to not have to commute. So that's all obviously linked with time. So, yeah, they want, they want to help you.

Speaker 1

12:50

I really believe that they want to help you to experience the benefits that they've experienced through setting up their remote business. But, as I said, first and foremost, it's all about solving solving those problems that that are in the world and problems that are long-standing problems and problems that there have a real interest in solving. So, yeah, that's um, how many, how many things that I mentioned there. So, solving problems not being tied to a location, a diverse workforce, a rich workforce, being able to connect with friends and people from different backgrounds, having a team that can take responsibility and be empowered and have that trust. And they also want to help you to thrive in your career as well.

Speaker 1

13:32

I really believe that, from all the interviews that I did, and I I think I mean to add another point they want you almost to be, you know, and this is also linked with helping you to thrive they want you to feel as though you are responsible for almost like running a business. Say that they almost expect people to, you know, still have their you know, have their interests on the side and still have their you know, their ideas around being entrepreneurs, because a lot of the time, entrepreneurs are suited to working remotely. You know, it's one of those things that the traits of an entrepreneur are very much suited to the remote lifestyle, so that's another additional reason why I think they want to create future entrepreneurs some of the remote CEOs that I've spoken to. So that's, I think, seven reasons why CEOs start up their businesses remote businesses and it's all really about people and, as I said, solving problems. So I hope that's helped you. I think, if you can then use some of this information to then begin to understand how you can connect with your next opportunity and do your research into the reasons why, um, the ceo that you want to approach started his or her business, because that will really help you. It really will. Please don't just go about talking about the fact that you want to work remotely. Anyway, I hope that has helped you.

Speaker 1

15:18

Please listen out for more episodes and, as I said, if you've liked this and if you like the other content that I'm putting out, please give me a five-star rating and tell me what you don't like about this podcast and tell me what you want me to include in the next podcast episodes, by commenting below or commenting on iTunes or Google Play or wherever it is that you're listening to me from, and join the Facebook group as well because you can also post questions and comments in there. We're almost at 400 people in the group. It's a fairly quiet group at the moment, but there are a few people in there posting comments, posting questions. You know, working remotely, it's always good to have a community and I'm trying to build that community of people so that we can all work together, we can ask each other questions, we can thrive, we can avoid isolation, all those sorts of things. So look at the show notes that I've included for a link to the group and I will speak to you in the next episode.